Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Shabox UnrealMind 32330 Scam

Prologue: Remember about sms.ac service that eats up your credit? We have another one...

Chapter 1:

This is happening to me personally. Take a look at the image above.It is my July bill This stinky piece of s*it, good for nothing company drained my pocket, not to mention boiling up my blood pressure for their so-called ringtones.

NO, I never send any request for ringtones and I definitely cannot recall when I requested for it. But somehow they managed to get my phone number. But from where?

I was charged for RM2.50 for every SMS I received (regardless whether I save or discard the ringtones). And I received this on regular interval, totalled up RM21.50 for nothing! And for June I was charged for RM29.50!

Don't bother sending STOP request to that number. It will tell you some error messages, and you will keep receiving these crap. I try to call their shitty customer service number and guess what, I was kept on the line forever!

This is what I did, and you should too!1. Call 123 (toll free Maxis customer service)2. Ask them to block external content provider

This is what you SHOULD NOT DO1. Never give out your phone number when you sign up for fishy promotions. Why do you want to sign up for it anyway?

UnrealMind Interactive Bhd, a unit of UK MonsterMob Group plc, has had three of its short code services suspended for three months for allegedly breaching the provision of mobile content and services guidelines, industry sources said.

It is learnt that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s (MCMC) Working Committee Sub Group (WCSG) informed UnrealMind two weeks ago of the suspension of the three short codes 39330, 39939 and 32330.

This follows a dispute relating to UnrealMind’s Football Craze contest, which used the three short codes. UnrealMind claimed that they were not in breach of the guidelines.

Sources said based on its findings, the WCSG had determined that the contest mechanics and services offered via the short codes were not in compliance with the guidelines.

It is learnt that the suspension followed some correspondence between WCSG and UnrealMind. The specifics of the alleged non-compliance with the guidelines are not known.

Besides the suspension for three months from July 21, UnrealMind was instructed to refund to all customers who took part in the contest and to submit a report to WCSG on the status of the refund by Aug 15.

Sources said UnrealMind was also barred from applying for any new short codes during the three-month period.

MonsterMob acquired UnrealMind, which was previously listed on the Mesdaq Market, last year. MonsterMob is listed on the Alternative Investment Market on the London Stock Exchange. MonsterMob, a major media and entertainment company, specialises in the sale of mobile telephone entertainment content and services.

UnrealMind managing director JV Colayco could not be reached for comment and did not respond to e-mail queries from FinancialDaily. The MCMC also did not respond to the same queries.

An industry source said it was difficult to estimate how serious such a suspension has on a company’s financials as it varied depending on the types of services provided.

He said some services especially those running contests and quizzes, which offer high daily, weekly or monthly prizes, were very popular.

“The prizes offered via the short code contests can be very lucrative, with contestants standing a chance to win up to RM10,000 either daily or weekly. That shows how big the industry is,” the source said.

The sources said mobile phone operators could ban the short code services of the content providers if they are found to be in breach of any of three major guidelines.

The three guidelines involve premium spam, failure of the stop command (to unsubscribe a service or abort) and failure to send reminder messages to subscribers (on charges/subscription fees).